Demonetisation’s aftermath: How to find ATMs with cash

The queues at the banks have vividly gone shorter but not much has changed with the site outside ATMsSanghamitra Kar | ETtech | Updated: November 22, 2016, 13:44 IST

Even after two weeks of demonetisation, the scenario in metro cities or the hinterlands haven’t changed much. The queues at the banks have vividly gone shorter but not much has changed with the site outside ATMs. Google maps too directs the nearest cashpoints but fails to point out if it still has cash. However, seeing the ground realities understanding the problem many developers have tried to ease it in different ways and have come up with distinctive solutions.

1. ATM status app- The app helps users find nearby ATMs and know their 'last updated' status on Android devices which with version above 4.2. The app gets updated with user generated content and the users also marks if the ATMs are open or close. With the motto of ‘Help and get helped’, the app which was launched 4 days back, currently has around 500 downloads and mostly from the Bengaluru region.

The app also allows users to search ATMs by address. The app has been built by BTech final year students Sumit Ghosh and Tanmay Agrawal.

2. ATMBot- The Facebook messenger-based bot helps users to check the availability of cash in the nearest ATMs. The data is crowd sourced and requires minimal user interaction. No separate app needs to be downloaded here. Users can simply open the bot on the Facebook Messenger app - http://m.me/ATMChatBot. Second step would be to share location and after that, they can choose either 'Enter ATM data' or Receive ATM data options.

The app has been built by Coimbatore-based Timebender, founded by Abishek Muthain.

3. MapsHalli- Built by 49-year-old Shiv Shankar, MapsHalli initially intended to help people figure out if their homes are on storm water drains; or bad is the traffic in the desired routes. But, soon after demonetisation the platform has also helped the citizens in finding ATMs that were dispensing currency and has mapped around 1,200 ATMs across the city.

4.ATM Search- A crowdsourced website, ATMsearch.in provides information about status of nearby ATMs. Users can search for any area on the website by typing the location and hitting the Search ATM button. The website will show a list showing ATMs that have cash or no cash, and how long the ATM queue is, along with nearby landmarks.

5. CMS ATM Finder- CMS Infosystems which manages 55,000 ATMs across the country, has come up with this additional tool ATM finder to help the citizens in locating nearby ATMs with cash. But, the tools tracks only the 55,000 ATMs listed with it.

Apart from these, Walnut, Cashnocash.com, have also been helping citizens in finding the working ATMs. While the tech bone to ease the crisis of cash crunch has been strengthened, what remains to be seen is how the situation will be tackled in the coming days as digitising and bringing all the components together is a definite challenge.